PERUGIA – “I want to tell you some of the things Meredith said to me about Amanda. I think they’re important. Meredith told me Amanda would sometimes bring men back to their house. I don’t know how many there were. Meredith mentioned one man in particular who lives at an Internet Café. That’s where she said she met him. Meredith thought the man was strange. At the time, she didn’t give me any more details. I don’t know how old he is but I can say that at least one other man was taken back to their house, although I don’t know what nationality these people are”. It was 11.10 pm on 3 November. Sophie Purton, 20, a friend of the British woman murdered on the evening of 1 November, was being questioned at Perugia police station. She was the first to reveal that the murder house has always had plenty of visitors. Police officers then decided to interview Amanda Knox, the American student now accused of taking part in the murder.

MEN, MEN, MEN – Ms Knox was questioned at 2.45 pm on 4 November. She did not deny that there were visitors. “The Internet Café man is Argentinian and his name is Juve. He’s been to our house at least five times. The last time was on 31 October. He knew Meredith because he met her at the bar with me. Juve never tried to hit on me. He’s got this habit of hugging and touching even when he’s not drunk. The other men I brought back are one called Spyros, only once in October when he met Meredith; Daniele from Rome – I don’t know his phone number – who came twice. The second time said hello to Meredith and spoke to her”. Less than two hours later, the rest of the story came from one of the men who live on the ground floor, Stefano Bonassi: “A couple of times, three friends from Rome came to our place. One is called Daniel De Luna. The second time he came to the house, he had sex with Amanda”. The list of people who visited the women is a long one and their appearance on the scene fuels doubts about Amanda Knox’s version. Who was actually in the flat when Meredith was murdered? What was her role? “Patrick and Meredith had sex on the evening of 1 November. I think I was in the kitchen. At one point I heard Meredith screaming and I was so frightened I covered my ears. I don’t remember anything else”, said Armanda. But her story doesn’t hold water. Investigators believe she was present at the assault and assisted Patrick Diya. But even if she didn’t, it is hard to believe that she did not rush to the bedroom when she heard her friend’s screams. Above all, if Patrick really did kill Meredith, what did they do afterwards? Someone certainly tried to clean up the blood. Someone smashed a window in an attempt to simulate a burglary. But who? Did none of them get their clothes dirty? What happened to the clothes?

LAUDROMAT – On the investigators’ files is a statement from two men who came forward on 3 November. “Early yesterday afternoon”, they say, “we went to the coin-operated laundry in Via Fabretti to do our washing. It was about 1.30 pm. We wandered off for a few minutes and when we got back to the laundromat we saw a woman and a foreigner. The foreigner left when we arrived. In front of the woman, we commented on the foreigner’s curious behaviour. She said that the foreigner had staggered in shortly before and put his washing into the machine, including some blue Nike trainers. Then he left and got stuck in the door but quickly managed to freed himself. A little later, he came back and we saw him take his washing out of the machine and put it in the dryer. The woman said she had seen him rummaging in a rubbish skip with another foreigner. He’s about one metre 75 tall with olive skin and must be North African”. It is not known who the man is or whether his odd behaviour has anything to do with the murder. At this stage, however, investigators do not want to overlook any details as they seek to discover whether any other people may have been involved in the murder.

HASHISH AND PARTIES – The picture that emerges from the statements of the men and women who knew Meredith and her friends is one of an extended group. They are young people who moved to Perugia to study, live away from their families, and appear not to have any rules. They live by night, wandering from one party to another, often get drunk and smoke themselves into a stupor on hashish. Giacomo Silenzi, who had been going with Meredith for about three weeks, describes the lifestyle. On the evening of the murder, he was at home with his parents in Porto San Giorgio. “Even though I really liked her”, he said, “I didn’t feel at all jealous about her. Me and my friends often use hashish and marijuana but not other drugs. Meredith used hashish, too, and we often took it together, either on our own or with other people in the house. Usually, we got the drugs in the centre of Perugia, on the steps outside the church in Piazza 9 November, but I don’t know the names of the pushers. We’d go into town and to get some any time we wanted it. I don’t recall the women ever having any. Usually, us men brought the drugs. Joints, and alcohol as well. The women would often come home drunk. One evening, Hicham Khiri, 28, from Morocco took them home. He described the incident to investigators on 3 November. “We were at the Gradisca. It was Saturday and I was with a friend called Abdel”. I could see that all the staff from the Merlin were inside and lots of foreign women students. There’s a coach for them every Saturday. As we were leaving the car park at the end of the evening, we met Meredith and Sophie – Sophie was drunk – with another woman I don’t know. Meredith asked me if we could take them home, given the state Sophie was in”.